Space remains the final frontier. And it will be private sector entrepreneurs, not government bureaucrats, who will take us there.

Article gives a summary of the private sector companies, funded by filthy rich guys who choose to pour their wealth into space exploration, that have expanded our reach into space. According to the article, these companies have done more than NASA has in the last several decades.

Consider:

SpaceX – funded by Elon Musk – Successfully launched a recycled Falcon 9 booster and plans to have two paying customers take a trip around the moon in 2018.

Blue Origin – funded by Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon – Later this year will have first human tests in space conducted by private company.

Axiom Space – Aiming to get a privately owned and operated space station in orbit during 2020.

Deep Space Industries – Developing asteroid mining capability.

Lunar XPrize – Amazon will pay $20M to first company that lands a rover on the moon, which transmits an HD feed back to earth, and can travel 500 meters on its own power. Five teams are still in the race.

This launch tests several things. The ability of Tianzhou to lift supplies to space station, which is critical to long-term missions. Previously Tiangong was crewed for 33 days, which is at the same time the longest Chinese space mission and I’ll guess is about the limit without resupply.

Also, the Tianzhou will test both of its cargo doors, its ability to control the space station with its boosters, and perform its own on-board experiments.

Even though China is by no means a private sector player it is still competition and the more competition the better.

The next goal is a 24 hour turnaround for a booster, measured from launch to launch. That will require a number of small changes, such as making the steering fins out of titanium instead of aluminum with heat shielding. Target is to achieve a 24 hour turnaround during 2018.

The goal is reach the point of 10 flights on a booster without major refurbishment and 100 flights with moderate refurbishment.

Elon Musk makes the comparison to airplanes. Imagine if SpaceX was selling a jet that could be used a dozen or hundred times while their competitors were selling a jet that could only be flown once.

Article compares the reuse of a booster to Boeing’s first trans-Atlantic flight of a 707. After the breakthrough, commercial flight blossomed over the next decade.